The Best Maple Pumpkin Spice Pie Recipe (and a virtual baby shower!)

For as long as I have been making them, the feeling of satisfaction when pulling a pie from the oven never goes away. Whether their all-butter crust is perfectly crimped or not or whether they are filled with seasonal fruit (my preference) or topped up with custard – any pie is reason to celebrate.

How long have I been making pie? It wouldn’t be a stretch to reply, “as long as I can remember”. I had been making them well before my dear parents bought me a pie cookbook for my twelfth birthday; perhaps they were trying to improve their chances of eventually getting a flaky crust (I tended to let my enthusiasm for baking get in the way of delicate pastry execution) or maybe they were gently encouraging me to expand my repertoire of apple pie, raisin pie, and wild Saskatoon berry pie. Not that there’s anything wrong with those options.

Regardless, branch out in my pie-making I did, as my stained and tattered cookbook bears witness. Let’s see, there was the lattice-topped orange cranberry pie, which inspired one of our favorite Christmas-time desserts, Cranberry-Orange Pie with Cornmeal Streusel Topping, and I remember plenty of orchard apple pies with cheddar crusts, a favorite still, only now I live in Quebec and sweeten my apple pies with maple syrup.

My teen years of angst were not helped by the occasional memorable pie-making disasters. I once saved my allowance just to buy high-quality chocolate for a three-tone chocolate mousse pie that ended up being a total flop. Suffice it to say, white chocolate and I are still at odds over that one.

Over time, I learned to make the perfect buttery pie crust, bake a meringue that doesn’t weep, and serve up a slice of custard pie that holds its shape when transferred from pie pan to plate. Perhaps one of my best takeaways from my cherished and well-worn pie cookbook, however, was learning to pair maple syrup with roasted pumpkin in a dreamy, creamy autumn pie.

Forget cups of sugar and cans of condensed milk; a really good pumpkin pie needs pure maple syrup and thick cream to stand out on the dessert table and I’m convinced I have found the best Maple Pumpkin Spice Pie recipe.

I recently recreated my childhood pumpkin pie with our own farm fresh eggs and an impossibly fragrant homemade pumpkin spice blend* that I grind every fall. It was sweetened with organic maple syrup that we get from friends of ours who own a sugar bush. The sugar pumpkins were slow-roasted, then the puree** drained for a few hours to remove some of the water and intensify the flavors.

Wow, just wow. I’m both completely biased and utterly honest when I say this was the best maple pumpkin spice pie recipe I’ve ever made (or, ahem, tasted). Texturally it is smooth and yielding; the perfect recipient for pillowy whipped cream. The fresh ground spices make all the difference, nicely complementing the dark maple syrup, and enhancing the mild pumpkin flavor.

A few weekends ago, I brought two of the pies to our family Thanksgiving dinner, where my father-in-law carved up slice after slice and declared that it was the best pumpkin pie he’d had in 20 years. I didn’t disagree!

A quick query on my Facebook page proved that people are still wild about pumpkin pie, especially at this time of the year when the leaves on the trees match the rusty orange colors in the pie. If you need any encouragement at all, I beg you: please make this pie and share it with someone you love. And don’t forget the whipped cream.

You’ll find the best Maple Pumpkin Spice Pie recipe below, but first….join me for a very special event, won’t you, please?

This mama-to-be is known for her big heart, warm smile and contagious laugh. I first met Lisa at Big Summer Potluck where we became instant friends and chatted away about pregnancy and babies. Natch.

Today, a handful of us wish to honor Lisa with the small gesture of a virtual baby shower. A big thanks to Maria, Marla, Gaby and Brian for the behind the scenes organizing. (Marla made the sweet invite above.)

So fetch yourself a plate – a big one, mind you, not one of those small flimsy paper dessert plates – and help yourself to the buffet! It’s quite a spread.

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350F. Keep the pie crust chilled in the refrigerator while you mix up the pie filling.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and cream together until blended. Add the pumpkin puree and the maple syrup and again whisk well.

Finally, add the vanilla, salt and spice blend to the pie filling and combine.

Remove pie shell from the fridge and place on the middle rack of the oven. Slide the rack out carefully a couple of inches and pour the filling into the pie shell. Slowly, slide the oven rack back in place, taking care not to spill the contents of the pie shell onto the bottom of the oven.

If you find yourself with a little extra filling, simply pour it into a couple of ramekins and bake them alongside your pie until they are set. Chill, top with whipped cream and enjoy them as pumpkin custard.

Check pie after about 30 minutes and rotate, if necessary, to ensure even browning of the pie crust.

When the center of the pie has puffed up, and jiggles only slightly when the pan is moved, the pie is ready. This will take about one hour.

Remove pie from oven and cool on a wire rack. When the pie is room temperature, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Pie will keep, covered in the fridge, for up to three days, or well-wrapped and frozen for up to 8 weeks.

Cooking has always been Aimée's preferred recreational activity, creative outlet, and source of relaxation. After nearly ten years in the professional cooking industry, she went from restaurant to RSS by trading her tongs and clogs for cookie cutters and a laptop, serving as editor here at Simple Bites. Her first book, Brown Eggs and Jam Jars - Family Recipes from the Kitchen of Simple Bites, was published in February 2015.

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Comments

Wow! This is amazing! Our whole family loves pumpkin pie, but since we are gluten intolerant I often just bake the filling in a buttered dish and call it pumpkin custard. Since we also avoid refined sweeteners I decided to give this a try. I doubled it and baked it in a buttered 9×13″ glass pan. It took longer to bake, of course, because of the size. I thought the smell was going to be my undoing! Absolutely heavenly! But…it tastes even better! Thank you so much for sharing this! My new favorite–and I don’t plan to look for another recipe. 🙂

This is perfect. I don’t use processed sugar and it’s nearly impossible to find a pumpkin pie recipe without granulated sugar and canned milk! I’d make up my own recipe but I’m too afraid of ending up with the wrong consistency, so thank you for sharing 🙂

Great recipe. Unlike most pumpkin pie recipes, this one is not too sweet and the flavor of the maple syrup complements the pumpkin and spices nicely. The filling texture is smooth and creamy like a custard. I cooked mine for significantly more time, close to 1 hr 45 min. It took this long for the center to rise up – yes, it really became like a dome despite some splits in filling around the edges after an hour – and the filling to firm up a bit.

I’m going to make my first pumpkin pie. Checking out all the various recipes online and I’m gravitating towards this one. Now, most recipes I see call for a couple eggs. What does using 4 do? Is it a fluffier result?

An excellent recipe! Couldn’t stop eating. I don’t need to keep trying to cobble together ones that use maple syrup, no condensed milk, are gluten free ….. – and a fabulous spice mix!! Kudos for that in particular! Thank you.

For a maple syrup only recipe I guess this is okay?? But the filling took almost 2 hours to set up and was incredibly wet still. The flavor was okay, but oh my heavens – don’t know if it was the type of flour I used, the crust recommended for this recipe was entirely inedible. Seized up almost immediately and because you don’t par-bake it, it wasn’t done at all(even after two hours!!)

This is absolutely magnificent, scrumptious, delicious, super yummy pumpkin spice pie with maple syrup. Definitely I will prep it on the weekend for my family. Btw I prefer pumpkin – it may reduce cancer risk, protect the skin, boost your mood and other! Thx for sharing!

I baked it for an 1:10 minutes. It came out more like custard pie. The crust was not cooked enough, so I will bake it first next time. It was also a little too salty for for my husband & me, so I will use less salt next time. Other than those things, I liked the taste but hopefully with the changes that I mentioned it will make a difference.

Amie, thank you. Perfect pie.🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Made exactly as you instructed except for reduced salt. I’ve been making pie crust with tender flake and robin hood cake and pastry flour for fifty years. This pastry produces a perfect flaky crust so used that as always. Fabulous way to use our local eastern Ontario maple syrup,. My family will love this pie. I will be making another for the Thanksgiving family feast next week. Thank you!!!!

I’m wanted to LOVE this pie but… should have really reduced the salt. Too salty. The only other change I made was to swap the heavy cream for canned coconut milk. Same consistency as heavy cream. It worked beautifully. I was impressed. I will make this again with less salt.

Hi Robin, Thanks for stopping by and for your enthusiasm. However, please do not repost my original recipe on your blog. Feel free to share it with your readers by linking to my post, but the actual recipe remains

I made this last night and put in a teaspoon of salt like it said. Ack. WAY too salty. Also, 4 eggs? It made it more like custard. I would say turn down the salt to a quarter tsp. and maybe leave out the egg

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I'm Aimée, and this blog is devoted to family focused food. This is an encouraging community that offers comprehensive recipes, simple preserving tutorials, and honest tips for cooking with kids. This is our family food life. Join us! Read more...